The invention relates to methods of detecting the condition of a gear assembly to predict when the gear assembly is nearing failure.
In most known methods of monitoring the condition of a gear assembly, one attempts to detect vibrations which are generated by the gear assembly as the gears turn and mesh with one another. Through empirical analysis it is possible to determine individual frequencies of vibration which correspond to specific parts of the gear assembly. By detecting the amplitude of a vibration signal at those particular frequencies, it is often possible to determine if an individual element of the gear assembly has begun to fail.